Friday, February 23, 2018

Security In Iraq, Feb 15-21, 2018

The number of security incidents dropped slightly in Iraq
during the third week of February 2018. That was due to a decline in violence
in Diyala and Salahaddin. There were a high number of casualties however, which
were caused by more mass graves with Islamic State victims being found.

There were 59 incidents total during the week. For the last
five full weeks there had been at least 60 incidents, so attacks were down, but
not by much.

There was 1 incident in Salahaddin, 1 in Sulaymaniya, 3 in
Anbar, 4 in Diyala, 12 in Kirkuk, 17 in Ninewa, and 21 in Baghdad.

Security
Incidents In Iraq By Province Feb 8-14, 2018

Salahaddin 1

Sulaymaniya 1

Anbar 3

Diyala 4

Kirkuk 12

Ninewa 17

Baghdad 21

Casualties
In Iraq By Province Feb 8-14, 2018

Diyala 2 (2 Wounded)

Anbar 7 (2 Killed, 5 Wounded)

Kirkuk 20 (28 Killed, 2 Wounded)

Baghdad 33 (6 Killed, 27 Wounded)

Ninewa 317 (310 Killed, 7 Wounded)

346 deaths were reported along with 43 wounded during the
week. That broke down to 1 Peshmerga, 6 members of the Iraqi Security Forces
(ISF), 27 Hashd al-Shaabi, and 312 civilians losing their lives along with 3
Hashd, 9 ISF and 31 civilians being injured. The high number of fatalities was
due to four mass graves being discovered in Ninewa with a total of 274 bodies
in them.

There was another quiet week in Anbar with just 3 incidents.
All of those were in the center of the province and consisted of one IED and
two shootings.

The capital province continued to have the most incidents
with 21. 13 of those were IEDs with 7 targeting shops and markets. February 20
was one of the few days when no violence was reported in Baghdad.

Diyala saw a large drop in attacks compared to previous
weeks. There were just 4 incidents. That included an infiltration
attempt from Salahaddin and a suicide
bomber that blew up the house of a Hashd officer. In the weeks before the
governorate had been witnessing double digits in incidents.

Violence in Kirkuk continued to be concentrated in two areas
Kirkuk and Hawija. Of the 12 incidents, 6 were in Kirkuk and 3 in Hawija. One
of those included an ambush of a
Hashd unit with Islamic State fighters dressed as members of the security
forces that left 27 dead. That led to a security sweep
through Hawija that included the police and Hashd destroying homes in
several villages in retaliation. Hawija was one of the last areas of Iraq to be
liberated, and many of the IS fighters simply faded away rather than fight.
Since then there have been consisted reports of many militants still in the
area, which this deadly attack drove home.

Ninewa also saw its fair share of violence with 17
incidents. Those were spread throughout the province in Mosul to Tal Afar, Tal
Safouk and the Syrian border in the west to Qayara in the south. Four more mass
graves were found as well with more people killed by the Islamic State. Al
Sumaria reported
that some believe there are another 500-600 bodies still buried in the rubble
of the Old City in west Mosul.

Search This Blog

About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the politics, economics, security, culture and history of Iraq via original articles and interviews. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com